Spring 2006

some 50 staff members of WBUR Radio have crowded into the third-floor cafeteria for a lunchtime event with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Deval Patrick. They settle into chairs or stand around the periphery, balancing sandwiches, chips, and soda. Bob Oakes, the station’s morning anchor, is the moderator. Turning to the candidate, Oakes says, “I’d like to(...)

In 1856, Charles Sumner’s tirade against slavery won him national fame – and a crack on the head us sen. edward Kennedy stirs up the emotions of both supporters and detractors. The Bay State’s senior senator rallies the Democratic Party faithful like nobody else. And the mere mention of his name, in a direct-mail piece,(...)

one effect of the ongoing shift in population from city to suburb is that more and more town selectmen in Massachusetts have constituencies that dwarf that of city councilors. The Bay State’s largest town, Framingham (population 65,598), has regular town meetings but is otherwise governed by five selectmen,or one for every 13,000 residents. That’s a(...)

Why do reporters assume they have the knowledge to judge one crime reduction strategy over another (“Crime and Puzzlement,” CW, Winter ’06)? Based on 35 years of experience in crime prevention through urban planning and design, I am constantly amazed by the shallowness of reporters’ judgments on which program works or doesn’t work. Reporters need(...)

Spring 2006 Winston Churchill said, “History will be kind to me because I intend to write it.” In much the same vein, I intend, on the occasion of CommonWealth’s 10th anniversary issue, to say a few admittedly biased words of praise for the magazine I am proud to publish, and especially the team that puts(...)

Thomas O’Connor has been telling Boston’s story for more than three decades. His 1976 book, Bibles, Brahmins, and Bosses, based on a series of lectures delivered at the Boston Public Library the year before, established the South Boston native as the dean of Boston historians, an informal title no one has challenged since. O’Connor began(...)

Spring 2006 ORIGINALLY, I PLANNED to treat the 10th anniversary of the magazine as an excuse to re-read – and, I must confess, when it comes to some older issues and articles, read for the first time – the collected works of CommonWealth. But as deadline approached, it became evident that wasn’t going to happen.(...)

INTRO TEXT Charter schools burst onto the scene as a bold challenge to the status quo. Supporters said that charters – which are publicly funded but operate free of bureaucratic and contractual constraints – would blaze a trail of innovation and serve as models for failing district schools. But what happens when charter schools are(...)

bald and bespectacled, he doesn’t exactly look like power in pinstripes as he moves though the Capitol. Still, after 10 years in Congress, Jim McGovern is increasingly taking on the aura of a certified Massachusetts powerbroker, even if he’s quick to deny it. “That’s not the way I see myself,” says the 46-year-old congressman from(...)